Modern communication networks engage in frantic connect and disconnect operations of large numbers of signal bearing optical fibers to route communication signals from their sources to their destinations. Connecting and disconnecting the fibers is a complex operation that not only has to be done quickly and reliably but must contend with controlling slack in fibers being connected and disconnected, preventing them from getting entangled with each other, and is advantageously performed in a relatively small volume by compact equipment that can readily be serviced.